When a hurricane damages a building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center or hits a rocket factory in New Orleans, it’s big news. There is damage that needs to be repaired immediately so the mission can move forward to launch.
But there are more serious problems with NASA’s infrastructure. Eric Weiser, director of NASA’s facilities and real estate division, told a Blue Ribbon National Academy committee on Thursday that NASA’s maintenance and construction budget is “totally underfunded.”
In a presentation to the National Academy Board, Weiser said NASA’s infrastructure was “on the decline.” There is a discrepancy between what NASA needs to maintain or upgrade its facilities and how much it spends on those efforts. Using NASA’s most conservative estimates, Weiser said, the maintenance gap would be $259 million a year, and he would be more than $600 million if NASA followed commercial industry maintenance practices.
And the gap is widening. That’s why NASA’s facilities are “aging over time,” Weiser said. “Most of our facilities are past their useful life.”
‘The trend is not good’
Weiser said 83 percent of NASA’s facilities have exceeded their design life. That’s well above NASA’s retirement-eligible percentage of about 25%, and that in itself is a major concern for the space agency.
Funding for facility maintenance comes from various divisions of NASA. Part of the funding comes from specific mission departments responsible for ensuring that launch pads, test pads, and other facilities at NASA’s field centers are in operational condition. Other resources are covered from General Expenses.
“Each center knows what facilities are most critical to its success, so when it discovers a problem, it does everything in its power to fix it without impacting the mission,” says Weiser. said Mr.
But prioritizing maintenance needs cannot go on forever.
“We postpone projects every year and have had to postpone 78 projects in the last four years,” Weiser said. “Many of the projects that have been deferred were repair projects, whether they were horizontal infrastructure such as power distribution, drinking water, sewerage, or other projects, which only increased the risk in terms of maintenance. renovation work.
“Not executing these projects puts more pressure on the maintenance side as they have to deal with unplanned failures,” he said. “And many of these unplanned failures can lead to mission risks and missed milestones, which we don’t want to happen.”
Weiser briefed the National Academies Commission, which was established to examine the critical facilities, workforce and technology needed to achieve NASA’s long-term strategic goals and objectives. Thursday’s meeting was one of a series of public meetings the commission will hold before releasing its final report with recommendations to improve the situation. NASA leadership, lawmakers and White House budget officials are expected to review the report.
The vast majority of NASA facilities across the country are rated “marginal to poor,” Weiser said. “This is not a laser table or test stand in a building. This is a building that supports testing functions within it. If you go down, you’ll lose that microscope too.” It’s no use to you. ”